


Birthday Wishes

by Springmagpies



Series: As We Drabble Along [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Birthdays, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Team Bonding, and phil's love for Captain America
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springmagpies/pseuds/Springmagpies
Summary: As is tradition among the SHIELD agents, the team throws Coulson a birthday party. He expects them to throw something childish as it is part of the tradition, but he doesn't expect just how much it ends up meaning to him.
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Phil Coulson & Agents of SHIELD Team
Series: As We Drabble Along [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789084
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Birthday Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this forever ago and never got around to posting it. But I am posting it now while I work on my multichapter fics in hope that it will push me to write more. Thank you to hereforthephilindafics for giving me this idea all those months ago (because time is an illusion this year holy heck)!! Anyway, enjoy!

They didn’t often leave the base for anything other than missions. Most of their supplies were brought in weekly, they rarely went out to eat, and really free time was sparse. It had gotten to the point that Daisy really couldn’t recall the last time she had even seen a Target, let alone gone in one. This proved to be a bigger problem than she had first expected.

The moment she, Mack, and Fitz walked into the store she suddenly felt like a little kid with a ten dollar bill. The world was her oyster. 

“We’re here for Coulson’s birthday,” Mack reminded Daisy as she sprinted towards the party gear. “Tremors!”

“I heard you Mack!” Daisy called back. 

“But have you absorbed the information,” Fitz teased. He ducked just in time to avoid Daisy’s swing. 

The gifts were already purchased--well made, mostly. Fitz had made him more old-timey style gadgets and they had found him vintage records to add to his collection. And so the main goal of their shopping trip was for party supplies. Yet, somehow they walked out of the store with a new video game, popsicle molds, and a pizza cutter among other things. They did get what they had come for, though. Three bags of different party decorations, supplies, and even an extra gift. 

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Fitz asked from the back seat--Daisy had called shotgun. 

Daisy scoffed. “A set of Captain America stickers and a book on World War II. If he doesn’t love it then I’ll eat an entire pack of Jemma’s gluten free biscuits.”

“You better pray he loves it,” Fitz mumbled. “Those biscuits are bloody awful.”

Mack raised his brows in the rearview mirror. “Which ones are those?” 

“The ones I was eating when you thought I was eating dog treats,” Fitz said. 

Mack grimaced. “Oh yeah.”

“Why would we have dog treats on base?” Daisy asked, shooting Mack a look. “We don’t even have a dog. Though Fitz and I did try to convince Coulson to let us have one.”

Fitz sat forward in his seat, an elbow on the back of each front seat. “The better question is why does Mack think I would willingly eat dog treats. Who eats dog treats?”

“You’ve never eaten dog treats?” Mack asked, his voice surprised. 

“What? No!” Fitz stared at Mack through the mirror. “Wait, have you?”

“Well, yeah. When I was a kid. It’s what kids do, right?” He turned to Daisy who shook her head. 

“Don’t look at me. I never had a dog.”

The argument continued until they were back on base, walking together to the common room to set up for Coulson’s party.

“Jems,” Fitz said after coming into the room carrying a bag of decorations.

Jemma looked up from the mug of tea she was making, quickly giving Fitz a kiss before responding with a, “yeah?”

“Have you ever eaten dog biscuits?” 

“Yes,” she said slowly, looking between Fitz, Mack, and Daisy, “when I was a child.”

“Ha! Told you Turbo.”

“What the hell!”

Jemma raised her brows. “Wait, Fitz, you haven’t?”

“No! Why would I willingly eat dog treats?”

“To see what they taste like,” Jemma and Mack said together. 

Fitz shook his head. “What the hell is happening today. Mental.”

Luckily, as they started to set up for the party the conversation shifted to new topics. It still didn’t stop Fitz from asking Hunter and Bobbi if they had tried dog treats, both of whom answered yes leaving Fitz even more confused. However, by the time they had put up all of the decorations, gotten the cake out of the fridge, and put the presents next to the television, they had covered a range of topics including--but not limited to--space, roles in the zombie apocalypse, who would win Survivor, who would be voted out first on Survivor, time travel--Fitz got very heated on that one, which avenger everyone would be, Disney movies--with a quick group rendition of Under the Sea from _The Little Mermaid_ , and the best kind of cake. 

When all was said and done, the common area of The Playground had turned into a Coulson dream if they did say so themselves. Did it look like a birthday party set up for a small Captain America enthused child? Yes, yes it did. But it was a trend with the group and somehow it had become a tradition. Mack had had a turtle themed birthday courtesy of Elena, Bobbi’s had been Star Wars, and Jemma’s had been Doctor Who. Fitz had had monkeys for his, Daisy--Disney, and Hunter had requested football. They had been unsure what to do for May, but Coulson had pulled out all the stops and let everyone take the day off to go ice skating. It was the most they had ever seen May smile. 

It was six o’clock in the evening when Daisy finally skipped into Coulson’s office to request his presence in the common room. 

“Let me just finish this report,” Coulson tried to say, but Daisy was having none of it. 

She shut the report with his hand still in it. “Nope. Nuh uh, AC. It’s your birthday and you are expected to attend your party.”

“My party,” he repeated, looking at Daisy over the rim of his glasses. 

“Yep,” she said, popping the “p” at the end of the word. 

He sighed. “I have to finish my report first.”

“There’s a pinata,” Daisy coaxed. 

Coulson looked at Daisy and then at the report his hand was still squished in before relenting. 

As they walked down to the common room, Daisy couldn’t quite read Coulson’s expression. His face was as unreadable as it normally was on a business day--though when wasn’t it a business day in Shield? But when they finally reached the party, she saw the steely expression slip. 

“Happy birthday Director!” 

Coulson took a step back as he looked around the room. Everyone on base had gathered into the space, wide smiles pulling at their cheeks and their eyes bright with excitement. The room was covered in Captain America shields and logos, streamers draping the walls, and the Captain America cake centered pride of place in the middle of the room. The promised pinata--made in the form of Cap’s shield--hung in the far corner of the room just waiting to be broken open and his gifts were piled up next to the television. He could also see the delicious looking cake with the candles all ready in place for him and he was excited to see what flavor it was. But the overwhelming thought he had, still standing halfway through the entrance of the room, was how grateful he was that he had his team. 

Once they had sung happy birthday to him and cut into the cake, the team all found places around the room to dig into their food. Coulson found a spot on the couch next to May and was half way done with his slice of cake when Fitz, Jemma, and Daisy came to sit on the floor across from them, using the coffee table as their dining space. 

“Sir,” Fitz said, swallowing his own bite of birthday cake.

“Yes, Fitz?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Ugh, Fitz. Will you drop it,” Jemma said as Daisy held in a chuckle. 

“Not until I get to the bottom of this.”

Coulson glanced over at May before shooting Fitz a curious look. “What’s your question, Fitz?”

“Have you ever eaten dog food?”

“What? Like kibble?”

“No, like treats,” Jemma clarified.

Phil looked between his scientists. “Yeah, when I was a kid.”

Jemma beamed as Fitz slammed his hands on the coffee table. “Dammit!” 

As Fitzsimmons started to bicker back and forth, Daisy watching the back and forth over bites of cake, Phil sat back into the cushions of the couch. He really was grateful for his team.


End file.
